---
Several hours earlier, three figures were moving quickly through the darkness outside Slik City.
Mihos Dawn was in the middle.
The two guards who had escaped with him stayed close on both sides, but neither man spoke. They had been running for a long time, first through the streets of Slik City and then beyond the city walls. Only after they were far enough away did they finally slow their speed slightly.
Mihos said nothing.
His face was dark.
His clothes were covered with dust from the escape route Stephen had created, and his normally neat hair had become messy from the wind. None of that mattered to him.
What mattered was the simple fact that he was running.
Mihos Dawn had never run from an enemy in his life.
He had withdrawn from negotiations before. He had abandoned useless plans when there was no profit in continuing them. He had ordered other people to retreat when a battlefield became inconvenient.
But Mihos himself had never been forced to flee.
